Report: Chargers acquire land for practice facility

The Chargers have yet to work out a deal to share space with the Rams in Kroenkeworld. But they’ve taken another tangible step toward shedding the “San Diego” and returning to L.A.

Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Chargers have acquired land in Orange County, and that the property will be used for a team headquarters and practice facility.

“The plans are for a five-acre parcel in Santa Ana that would be the location of the team’s interim headquarters and training facilities in the event the team exercises its option to relocate to the Los Angeles area,” the Chargers said in a statement, via Acee.

The news comes at a time when the L.A. Coliseum is clearing a path for hosting two NFL teams, one of various needles that need to be threaded to allow the Chargers to move. The Chargers nevertheless insist that a move is not imminent.

“The franchise is continuing to review all of its options, and no final decision on relocation has been made,” the Chargers said. “It was necessary for the team to submit the grading and landscape plans now because of the long lead time necessary to secure land use approvals and to prepare the natural grass practice fields in time for the team’s offseason workout schedule.”

Whatever happens, a decision must be made sooner than later. Apart from the logistics associated with getting ready for the 2016 season, the Chargers have plenty of employees who need to know whether — and where — they’ll have jobs.

If someone owns an NFL team it’s not unreasonable to suspect that they are somewhat of a savvy businessman, right? Clearly this does not apply to Dean Spanos.
Seriously these are his options:

Go crawling back to San Diego and beg the city and fans to take him and his sorry team back and still put the publicly funded stadium ballot measure to a vote even after he made it clear he wants to abandon them all.

Or

Be Stan Kroenke’s TENNANT in HIS stadium (Dean can’t afford to split the cost and be an equal partner) and live with the terms he applies to your LEASE. But don’t worry, landlord Stan promises to be reasonable with the terms of the lease. No really guys, he promises.

How does Dean Spanos let Stan Kroenke and Jerry Jones and the rest of the “good ol’ boys” club back him in to such a deep dark corner? He should just sell the team!

If Spanos is smart. Move to LA. Make minimal investment in team ie. new practice field HQ, then by being in the the LA market makes huge bank when he essentially flips the team. These guys are so-called business people and profit is job one not fan loyalty…

He can acquire the land for minimal money (to him) and do nothing with it if he so chooses, however the move is to show leverage to the city of San Diego that he is indeed serious about moving… I think it’s a bluff. Either way it would suck to be a Charger fan right now.

I don’t know how any “fan” could support a team if it moved to another city regardless of how far away it is . If the Baltimore Orioles had moved the 45 miles to DC they might as well have been dead to me

Another proof they are staying put. Notice didn’t say they actually purchased the land and talked with contractors about building plans. It’s just a piece of land they can sell anytime if they stay in San dieogo

I hate when people write in and say they speak for all of San Diego. You don’t! I’m a life-long San Diego Charger fan and will remain a Charger fan. The City of San Diego has had 15-years to get a stadium deal done and instead has had constant political issues going on from Pension Scandals to Sexual Harassment scandals. They can’t even get out of their own way.

So the team moves 90-miles north! Big deal! If you are dumping them then you are not a real fan. It’s not like they snuck out in the middle of the night. We had our chance to build a stadium. We built one for the Padres, why couldn’t we get one done for the more popular team?

No one in LA wants the Chargers. The Raiders fans here certainly wouldn’t cheer for or support them. The best bet is for Spanos to do the right thing and build his own stadium where he belongs: San Diego. He can easily make amends with the fans there by not taking a single penny of taxpayer money and build his own complex ala the Inglewood project. Heck, the city could even give him sweet deals on the land and tax breaks. But, asking/ demanding that the taxpayers to give a billionaire a lavish palace is just too much.

I have to wonder, would Spanos be better off dropping the Chargers name?

Nobody in L.A. wants them there. Not the new or returning Rams fans. Not the hordes of Raiders fans. Not even the Mayor of L.A.

If they re-branded and chose a name that resonated with the fans in Los Angeles, so that it felt fresh and new, maybe even get the fans involved on the logo and color scheme choices, they could generate greater interest, engagement and even loyalty with the fans.

It would also leave open the possibility of re-using the Chargers name in San Diego, should they someday land another team.

they bought land in southern california…big deal. They bought land in Carson too. How’d that go? Socal land sells itself practically.

And Santa Ana is dump. It is the ghetto of orange county. LMAO that Dean is allegedly putting team headquarters and the practice field in Santa Ana while Kronke will undoubtedly enjoy his palace and newly developed kingdom.

I just don’t buy any of this. Still convinced a deal with San Diego is coming soon. with new players, funding etc…stuff that is being done behind the scenes and out of the press.

I am a Chargers fan and will never root for the Raiders even if they do come here. I better not hear an ex-Charger fan start claiming the Raiders rings. That is what all the band wagon fans are gonna do!
BOLT UP!!

San Diego and Los Angeles are not next door neighbors. The two cites are 120 miles apart.

Dean Spanos needs to get on the local news and apologize to the San Diego residents. He needs to be honest and promise to contribute as much money to the new stadium as possible. If he shows that he is committed in San Diego, things can get turned around in a hurry.

The fans are going to go crazy for the Rams for one 7-9 season and then they will stop coming.

There’s a reason LA last two teams in the past. There is just too much going on there to make following a football team religiously a priority and you need a strong base of hard core fans to keep the fire stoked when you’re not winning. LA won’t have that and we’ll be back to square one the moment whatever new lease is up.

Not LA fans fault. New York would be the same way if the weather was as nice as LA most of he year and they could do stuff rather than huddle indoors watching games.

Miami probably would have lost the Dolphins years ago for the same reason had the Dolphins not established themselves early in the super bowl era.

I hope it works out for the Rams but I have my doubts. Let alone a chargers team nobody wants in LA except for the fans in SD that think they can make a long distance relationship work.

Been a charger fan my entire life, that being said – Don’t let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya.

With Spanos behavior and keeping us hanging, for not recognizing that the fans have been there through the horrible years and the not so bad years, we supported you through the recession and what do we get in return….absolutely NOTHING. Not even the decency to just come out and say – see you San Diego.

I will wholeheartedly embrace the Raiders if it kills me. Whoever comes to town I’m sure will get revenge support if nothing else. They sure can’t treat the fans any worse than Spanos has.

Is this actually going to work out for the Chargers financially? From the sounds of it their ongoing lease payments to the Rams could eventually surpass what their share of a new stadium back in SD would cost.

I really, really don’t like the idea of 4 teams being in 2 cities. That’s 1/8 of the entire league residing in NYC and LA. I’ve said it on the other stories too, just imagine how ESPN and the other networks (who are all based out of LA and NYC) will be all season long. I can imagine all of the biases in favor of a LA vs NYC Super Bowl by all of the talking heads and I shudder at the thought of it.

“4512dawg4512 says:
I’ll never understand why L.A could go twenty years and happily be just fine and now suddenly they need not one but two football teams. Makes no sense, but whatever

It’s because we refused to give taxpayer money to multi billionaires. Downtown LA is going through major development with skyscrapers being put up left and right with ZERO tax dollars given to the developers. The Staples Center (Lakers, Kings, Clippers) was built with ZERO tax dollars.

The NFL came and tried to make us pay for a stadium and we told them to go to hell. We in LA don’t want the Chargers. They need us more than we need them.